French-made outdoor and indoor tables, ITTF competition models, and weatherproof bats. Learn the brand’s history, the technologies that matter when choosing equipment, and why UK families and players keep buying Cornilleau.
Cornilleau is a French manufacturer based in Bonneuil-les-Eaux in the Oise region. The business began in 1946 as a joinery and cabinet-making workshop founded by Emile Cornilleau. From the late 1960s it specialised in table tennis tables, and in 1969 it produced its first production run of 300 tables. Today Cornilleau is widely recognised for outdoor tables, while also building indoor leisure and ITTF-approved competition models, plus bats, balls and accessories.
Cornilleau tables cover hobby and recreational play through to serious club and competition use. Long manufacturer warranties are standard across the range, and spare parts support is a deliberate part of the brand’s durability promise. The company still designs and manufactures in France, with a strong focus on safety, bounce quality, weather resistance, folding ergonomics and practical storage.
Many folding systems on the wider market now look familiar because Cornilleau set much of that direction. Its COMPACT Technology folding concept and later DSI locking system remain useful reference points when you compare tables for home, school or club use in the UK.
“Sport is ever progressing. This is why we must continuously improve the performance of our products. With this goal in mind, Cornilleau have developed a new collection of table tennis tables to meet the very highest standards, offering you what you have a right to expect today: quality of play, comfort of use, safety, solidity and design. Cornilleau are convinced that their tables will be in high demand due to their undeniable superior technical features.”
Michel Zany, Cornilleau
If you are researching Cornilleau before buying, these are the points that matter most:
Outdoor resin laminate tops that can live outside year-round in UK weather. Indoor wooden tops with SkilTop finishes on competition models. ITTF-approved tables for club and tournament play. Safe one-person folding with COMPACT and DSI systems. Weatherproof outdoor bats (Softbat, Tacteo and Nexeo) plus traditional indoor bats. Made in France production rather than anonymous imported generics.
For most UK buyers the first choice is outdoor versus indoor, then top thickness or competition level. If you need bats too, outdoor composite models are the practical match for garden play, while Sport, Perform and Excell bats suit indoor games rooms and clubs.
Table-Tennis-Tables.co.uk has been an approved Cornilleau retailer since 1998. We are the UK’s longest-established specialist Cornilleau table retailer: that means decades of hands-on experience with the ranges, folding systems, warranties, spare parts and the practical questions that come with UK gardens, schools and clubs.
Cornilleau itself has been present in the UK market since 1982 and the UK is one of its most important export markets. Whether you want honest model advice, free mainland delivery options or installation in many areas, you are dealing with a specialist that has sold and supported Cornilleau tables for more than 28 years.
These features affect safety, bounce and how easy a table is to live with at home.
The DSI folding system is designed to lock the table safely even on uneven ground such as lawn, sand or cobbles. Cornilleau’s DSI approach uses four safety bolts, with multiple locking points in both the playing and storage positions (commonly described as eight locking points in each position). An ergonomic handle unlocks the mechanism so one person can open and close the table with confidence.
COMPACT Technology, introduced in the mid-1990s, changed how foldaway tables store. With the two halves nested closer together, the folded unit is more stable and less likely to tip. It also reduces the gap between panels, which helps stop a child getting between the tops when the table is folded. For UK homes and schools, that storage footprint and safety profile are still major reasons people choose Cornilleau.
Outdoor tables fight sunlight as much as rain. Cornilleau’s Mat Top finishes are designed to cut glare so you can track the ball more easily. Compared with a standard gloss top, Cornilleau states that a full Mat Top finish offers around 10 times less glare, while Soft Mat Top offers around 3 times less. If your garden gets strong midday light, this is one of the practical differences you will feel in play, not just read on a spec sheet.
When you compare models, pair the coating claim with resin thickness, frame gauge, wheel quality and warranty length. Those factors together decide whether a table is a short-term summer toy or a long-term garden fixture.
Indoor bounce depends on a quality wooden top and a carefully built finish. Cornilleau’s SkilTop treatment creates a strong, long-lasting and attractive playing surface through a multi-layer process:
When you compare indoor models, pair the surface finish with top thickness, frame quality, folding system and whether you need ITTF approval for club or competition use.
Cornilleau tables with the SkilTop finish include:
Cornilleau pioneered the weatherproof outdoor bat. Today the range covers Softbat for beginners and schools, Tacteo for tough all-round outdoor play, Nexeo for higher outdoor performance, and traditional wood bats for indoor use.
The original Tacteo concept dates back to 2005, when Cornilleau developed a polymer and elastomer outdoor bat after multi-year R&D (historically with Michelin). Current Softbat, Tacteo and Nexeo models are Cornilleau outdoor bats with one-piece composite surfaces that do not peel like traditional rubbers, making them ideal for gardens, schools and leisure centres. They are weatherproof, shock resistant and Made in France.
Softbat
Entry-level outdoor bat made with recycled materials. Softskin elastomer surface, round ergonomic handle, ideal for beginners, schools and family play.
Tacteo 30
Polymer composite outdoor bat with ADS surface technology, soft-touch grip and strong durability. A favourite for schools, youth clubs and intensive recreational use.
Nexeo X70 Carbon
Higher outdoor performance with a carbon construction. Often supplied with Cornilleau outdoor tables and a strong all-round choice for garden players.
Nexeo X90 Carbon
Step-up Nexeo outdoor bat with more pace and precision for players who want a sharper outdoor feel without switching to traditional indoor rubbers.
Nexeo X200 Graphite
Top of the outdoor Nexeo line. Graphite construction for demanding outdoor players who want speed and control from a weatherproof bat.
Indoor Sport / Perform / Excell
Traditional wood bats for indoor play, from Sport 100 entry models through Perform and Excell carbon bats for club-level and advancing players.
Softbat Duo and Quattro sets are useful for families and schools that need several outdoor bats at once. For indoor progress, look at Sport 200 to 400, then Perform 500 / 600 / 800 and Excell 1000 / 2000 / 3000 as skill level rises. If you are unsure which bat matches your table and playing level, call 01371 875000 for impartial advice.
Key milestones in Cornilleau’s journey from a French joinery workshop to a leading table tennis brand covering outdoor tables, indoor competition models, bats and accessories.
Emile Cornilleau sets up a joinery and cabinet-making workshop in an old agricultural building beside the main road in Bonneuil-les-Eaux (Oise). The firm takes on significant post-war reconstruction work in Breteuil and nearby villages.
Pierre Cornilleau (Emile’s son) joins after technical college in Beauvais. Alongside building sites, the company adds higher-volume industrial wood products such as bottle crates, automotive pallets, aviation casings and tile-drying racks. By the end of the decade the workforce is around 20 people.
A neighbouring firm, Cotexunion, is approached about supplying table tennis tables. Cornilleau researches the project as building work slows and Pierre pushes toward industrial manufacturing. Cotexunion supplies steel bases; Cornilleau handles the playing surface, packing and marketing. In 1969 Cornilleau builds three prototypes, then fulfils an order of 300 tables linked to BHV Paris for Christmas, exhibits at its first sports trade show, and invests heavily in buildings and surface-treatment machinery.
The company is established as a public limited company. The original joinery trade is wound down and replaced by table tennis table manufacturing.
Pierre assumes overall management. Through the 1970s Cornilleau grows on strong value for money, initially selling heavily through hypermarkets, then expanding into sports shops and mail-order channels while competing with market leaders of the era such as Donnay.
Cornilleau partners with French champion Jacques Secretin to strengthen competition-table credibility and brand recognition. Competition models associated with Secretin help move Cornilleau from “good value manufacturer” toward a recognised sports brand.
Cornilleau becomes leader of the French market and invests in automated playing-surface treatment for European quality expectations. Multiple table models receive International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) approval. The company exhibits at ISPO in Munich.
Cornilleau pioneers accessible outdoor table tennis tables using solid laminate tops capable of withstanding weather. The same year, table tennis appears as a full Olympic medal sport at the Seoul Games. Outdoor play becomes central to the brand’s identity and to how most recreational buyers use a table at home.
Michel Zany joins to strengthen sales and marketing, later becoming commercial director and steering the brand toward specialist sports retail and international markets rather than pure hypermarket volume.
Olympic silver medallist Jean-Philippe Gatien signs with Cornilleau. Later the same year he becomes World Champion in Gothenburg. His involvement supports competition-range development and brand visibility at the top of the sport.
Cornilleau introduces its COMPACT folding concept, combining tighter storage, improved stability and safer folded geometry. The innovation helps redefine mid and premium leisure tables and remains a cornerstone of the modern Cornilleau outdoor range.
Cornilleau intensifies export management with the aim of European leadership. The same year, Table-Tennis-Tables.co.uk begins as a UK table tennis specialist and goes on to become an approved Cornilleau retailer: today the UK’s longest-established specialist Cornilleau table retailer.
Cornilleau launches a broader range of bats, balls and accessories associated with Jean-Philippe Gatien, aiming to supply a fuller table tennis offer beyond tables alone.
Cornilleau reworks its table range with stronger safety and design focus, refreshes visual identity, and steps up event presence including European Championships sponsorship activity and a major exhibition presence at the World Championships in Paris Bercy. Michel Zany later becomes company president after Pierre Cornilleau’s retirement.
Cornilleau enters the US trade-show circuit (including The Super Show in Orlando), develops the polymer Tacteo outdoor leisure bat after multi-year R&D historically involving Michelin (2005), and continues growth across Europe, the United States, Russia and the Middle East. In 2007 it sponsors the World Team Cup in Germany.
When Sport England supported the high-profile Ping! London public table tennis project, Cornilleau outdoor tables were chosen for quality and durability in urban settings. Around the same period Cornilleau is reported as exporting to dozens of countries and consolidating its position as a major European outdoor-table brand. Competition-player support also grows, with athletes such as Simon Gauzy joining Team Cornilleau around 2010.
After 2010 Cornilleau continued developing outdoor tables, indoor competition ranges, weatherproof bats and later games furniture. For UK customers the practical takeaway is continuity: durable tops, safe folding, long warranties, spare parts and matching outdoor or indoor bats remain the buying criteria, even as model names change.
Cornilleau launches the Park outdoor table as a durable alternative to concrete public tables, aimed at local authorities and high-traffic outdoor sites. Heavy load capacity and vandal-resistant design are central to the brief. These tables are now a common sight in parks and school grounds in France and internationally.
The Crossover outdoor range underlines Cornilleau’s push to combine function with more deliberate industrial design, continuing the shift from purely utilitarian garden tables toward products people are happy to leave on show.
Marking roughly fifty years since its first tables, Cornilleau expands into weather-resistant outdoor pool with the Hyphen billiard table after multi-year development. The same period sees further diversification (including trampolines) and the opening of a US commercial subsidiary as international structure grows.
Following outdoor pool, Cornilleau grows a designer games furniture offer branded Play-Style, including outdoor foosball (developed with French specialist Stella) and convertible ping-pong concepts. The UK remains a priority export market; Cornilleau establishes a UK commercial subsidiary to sit closer to British customers while continuing to manufacture in France.
Helene Lupette becomes CEO, working alongside president Michel Zany. She previously held senior operational roles covering purchasing, supply chain, R&D, production and related industrial projects, continuing the company’s long pattern of leadership from within.
2026 marks eighty years since Emile Cornilleau opened the Bonneuil-les-Eaux workshop in 1946. The company remains a French manufacturer of table tennis tables and related games products, still associated with outdoor durability, folding safety and Made in France production. In the UK, Table-Tennis-Tables.co.uk continues as the longest-established specialist Cornilleau table retailer, advising customers on current outdoor, indoor and competition ranges.
Cornilleau designs and manufactures in France, with its historic base in Bonneuil-les-Eaux in the Oise region. That Made in France production chain is a core part of the brand’s identity and aftercare model.
The company was founded as a joinery in 1946. It moved into table tennis at the end of the 1960s and produced its first production tables in 1969, including an early order of 300 tables associated with BHV Paris.
Mat Top is Cornilleau’s anti-glare outdoor finish (full Mat Top cuts glare far more than a standard gloss top; Soft Mat Top is a milder anti-glare option). SkilTop is the multi-layer indoor wooden-top finish used on competition indoor models such as the 540, 610, 640, 740 and 850, designed for a durable high-quality indoor playing surface.
ITTF approval means the table meets International Table Tennis Federation standards for competition use. If you play club matches or want tournament-ready bounce and dimensions, look for ITTF-approved Cornilleau indoor competition models.
Softbat is the simple beginner and school option. Tacteo 30 is a tough all-round polymer bat for gardens and intensive recreational use. Nexeo X70, X90 Carbon and X200 Graphite step up outdoor performance. All are weatherproof composite bats rather than traditional peel-off rubber sheets.
No. Michelin was involved in the early development of the Tacteo outdoor bat concept around 2005. Current Softbat, Tacteo and Nexeo bats sold today are Cornilleau weatherproof polymer / elastomer outdoor bats. They do not use conventional Michelin table tennis rubbers.
COMPACT is Cornilleau’s folding storage concept from 1995. The folded halves sit closer together, improving stability and reducing the chance of a child entering the gap between panels. It remains a defining feature of many Cornilleau rollaway tables.
DSI is Cornilleau’s safety locking and folding system. It is designed to lock securely on uneven ground and to let one person open and close the table using an ergonomic unlock handle, with multiple locking points in play and storage positions.
Table-Tennis-Tables.co.uk has been an approved Cornilleau retailer since 1998 and is the UK’s longest-established specialist Cornilleau table retailer. We provide impartial, no-commission advice, product knowledge built over decades, and aftercare support on the tables and bats we sell.
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